


Cosmic Joke

by PhantomPhan16, VicenteValtieri



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Cancer, Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25314901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomPhan16/pseuds/PhantomPhan16, https://archiveofourown.org/users/VicenteValtieri/pseuds/VicenteValtieri
Summary: It was the worst slap to the face, the worst cosmic joke...Heavy gets some of the worse news.
Relationships: Heavy/Medic (Team Fortress 2)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	Cosmic Joke

Mikhail waited anxiously for Johann to come back. He had been sick lately, headache, vision problems, throwing up, but the final straw had been a seizure in the middle of an engagement. So, he'd been sent to the hospital for testing. The door opened, and Johann walked in. His face was drawn, and he wouldn't look at anyone.

"Doktor?" Mikhail approached gently.

When the Russian's hand touched him, Johann collapsed into his arms, clinging tightly to him.

"Doktor..." Mikhail pulled him aside into the privacy of the medbay, "Vhat is wrong?"

He was trembling.

"Misha... oh Gott..."

"Doktor,... you are scaring Heavy."

He looked up at his love with tears in his eyes.

"... It's... it's a... it's a brain tumor."

Mikhail was stunned into silence. It seemed so wrong... So impossible.

"Is tumor?"

Johann nodded.

"Und... vhere it is... zhey can't-"

"Is not removeable?!" Mikhail exclaimed briefly, "Blyat!"

He tucked the doctor to his chest.

"Doktor is smart... Perhaps can think of something?"

"Vhat can I do, Misha? Vizh zhe pins... anyzhing vizh mein brain... it's too risky. It's already stage 4."

"Is drugs? Chemo?" Mikhail asked, keeping the doctor in his arms.

"No drugs can help now, und chemo is too risky at zhis stage because of zhe pins. I... I'm going to die…"

Mikhail held him close as the doctor sobbed softly.

"Misha is here... Vill be here for Doktor..."

"I'm scared, Misha. I vant to stay vizh you."

"I know," Mikhail kissed his hair, "Is not... Is not ower yet. Ve go home together... Leave the contract."

"But, Misha, your family... zhe money..."

Mikhail hesitated. The money was very important...

"Cannot leave doktor..."

"... Und I cannot stay... You vill take vhat I hafe earned."

"No, is doktor's money!"

"Misha,... I'm not going to need it soon... Is almost six million, plus vhat you hafe earned, zhat vill profide for you und your family."

Mikhail hesitated.

"Then ve leave."

He hugged Medic again.

"Misha vill send vhat has earned to Mama und take Doktor vhere vants to go."

"... I hafe a house. Ve can go zhere, und after... you can mofe your family zhere."

"Misha vill stay vith Doktor to end," Mikhail assured him as they packed their things and said their goodbyes.

"Why ya leavin'? C'mon, guys, you're quittin' now?"

"Scout vill shut-"

"No, Misha. I... I hafe to leave, eferyvone."

"I will not tolerate deserters."

Engie and Spy, however, caught on that something was very wrong.

"Doc? ... This about the seizure... ain't it?"

"...Ja."

"...You gotta leave because of your health. Ain't no one gonna fault ya."

"Yeah, and hey, maybe we'll come see ya for Sissmass," Scout said.

Johann looked around at them and couldn't keep it from them. His friends, his family.

"I'm dying, Scout."

Scout stiffened.

"What? Hey, no, that ain't funny!"

"Scout... I don't think this is a joke," Engie took off his hard hat. "Lord, Medic... What is it?"

"A brain tumor." There was stunned silence all around, and the mercs stared at him. The worst slap in the face, the worst cosmic joke, their Medic... dying of a brain tumor.

"Geez, Medic, isn't there anything we can do?" Scout asked, "Gotta be a doc somewhere who can fix it."

"Not at zhis stage."

Pyro burst out with some kind of cry and rushed to hug the German. Medic gently patted him.

"It vill be all right, Schatz... You vill be taken care of."

Scout dropped his ball and ran over to join the hug.

"Dammit, it ain't fair, Doc!"

"Nein, Scout... No, it isn't," He patted their backs, "It vill be all right."

It wasn't easy... watching Johann slowly waste away. They had been gone eight months when his health seemed to dive, and he was sleeping more and more.

"It von't be much longer," he said one morning as Mikhail held him close, rubbing his back.

Mikhail didn't bother to deny it. As much as the denials made him feel better, they made it worse for Johann. He simply nodded and kissed his neck.

"...Ve go somevhere? Florence? Barbados?"

Johann's health was not good enough to walk about most days, but Mikhail would gladly take him south to rest in the sun if he wished.

"... I vant to meet your family, kuschelbar, but I don't zhink I vould make it."

Mikhail held him a bit tighter.

"I vill send for them. So Doktor can meet them, and I can say, 'Zhis is man I vould marry if I could'."

The German smiled, "You are so romantic, liebling."

"Da..."

If only all his romance and his massive, soft heart could save Johann.

He sent for his mother and sisters the next day. Johann didn't have much time. His beloved wolf was sleeping most of the time now and had not enough strength to walk, but when Mama and the girls arrived how he smiled, and for a brief moment he was full of life and vigor.

"Is so handsome!" Mama said, laying a large, handmade quilt over Johann, "So good to meet Misha's doktor he writes about so often!"

"It is so good to meet you, Madam. Misha has told me so much about you," he said as Mikhail tenderly tucked the quilt around him.

It was snowing outside now, and Johann cuddled up under the quilt.

"Zhis is so soft und varm. Danke."

"Made for Mishas volf," Mama pinched his cheek, "Vhere is kitchen - is so late, doctor must be starving."

"I vill show you, Mama."

When he came back the girls were sitting around Johann, telling him tales of growing up with their brother. He smiled and laughed, though Mikhail could see it wore him out.

"Doktor should rest," Mikhail intervened at the end of one of the stories.

Johann smiled up at him, "Yana tells me you used to dance vizh her. Dance vizh me, kuschelbar."

The girls giggled at the endearment as Johann had told them what it meant.

"Doktor-"

"Bitte."

How could he refuse? He gently lifted Johann into his arms and moved in a sort of dance, cradling his lover close. Johann held onto his neck and laid his head into Mikhail's shoulder. His breathing was deep, but faster than normal.

Mikhail had fight down a wave of tears. It wouldn't be long now. He couldn't fight much longer. Johann began humming in his ear.

The girls sensed something was wrong. Yana went to find Mama. Mikhail sank down into a chair, holding Johann close, and kissed his hair.

Johann cupped Mikhail's cheek and began singing. His voice was weak and a little shaky, but it was the most beautiful thing Mikhail had ever heard.

"Vise men say

Only fools rush in

But I can't help falling in love vizh you

Shall I stay?

Vould it be a sin

If I can't help falling in love vizh you?

Like a river flows

Surely to the sea

Darling, so it goes

Some zhings are meant to be

Take my hand,

Take my whole life, too

For I can't help falling in love vizh you."

Mikhail held him close as his voice failed.

"...Misha... Johann..."

He resorted to Russian to whisper how much he loved his doctor.

"I lofe you, too, Misha."

Mama and Yana stood in the doorway now, watching anxiously.

"Vhen ve met I vas so alone, und I zhought I vould alvays be alone. But you... you lofed me, und suddenly... I could life again," Johann was now crying softly, "I'm so sorry, Misha."

"...Misha is newer alone, Doktor," Mikhail kissed his forehead, "Vill carry doktor vith."

He nodded and curled into the Russian. Dinner was quiet, and Johann slept almost immediately after.

Mikhail woke in the morning and reached over to wake Johann. The man beside him was still and cool. He gently stood up and walked around to Johann's side of the bed, gently examining his doctor. He was gone. With trembling fingers, Heavy called the ambulance.

The moment he hung up he began to sob. He fell to his knees and sobbed at Johann's bedside. The sound drew his family, and Mama came in. She touched Johann and knew immediately.

"Oh, Misha..."

Mikhail hugged his mother as his sisters hugged him. They stayed with him as the EMTs came to call the time of death and take Johann to the hospital and ultimately to the morgue.

The REDs fell in for the funeral. Mikhail waited until the last possible moment before carefully slipping a ring onto Johann's hand before closing the casket to be buried. The matching ring adorned his own finger afterward.

Engie put a hand on his shoulder.

"...Come on, Heavy. Let's get you home."

He nodded numbly, and as they walked away, he left his heart behind.


End file.
